Little Terns at Portrane: Protecting Ireland's Tiny Seabirds | For The Ocean
ACTIONABLE IMPACT #1
Giving Little Terns a Fighting Chance at Portrane
There are some birds you notice. And there are some birds you have to know to look for.
The Little Tern is one of them.
Tiny, fast and almost impossibly graceful, these remarkable seabirds arrive on Ireland's east coast each spring after travelling thousands of kilometres from their wintering grounds in West Africa.
For a few short months, they come to places like Portrane in North County Dublin to do something deceptively simple:
nest, raise their chicks and get them safely into the air.
But for a bird that lays its eggs directly on open sand or shingle, survival isn't simple at all.
That is where people come in.
And that is where Actionable Impact begins.
A tiny bird. A very big challenge.
The Little Tern (Sterna albifrons) is Ireland's smallest breeding tern and a rare summer visitor to our coastline.
They arrive from around April and typically remain until late August, spending the summer months feeding over the sea and breeding on coastal beaches.
Unlike birds that build substantial nests high in trees or on cliffs, Little Terns make a simple scrape in the ground.
That makes their nests incredibly vulnerable.
High tides can wash them away.
Predators can find them.
And human activity on busy beaches can disturb birds at exactly the wrong moment.
According to BirdWatch Ireland's Little Tern information, only a small number of colonies remain in Ireland, making successful breeding sites particularly important.
One of those sites is right here in North County Dublin.
Portrane.
A colony worth protecting
BirdWatch Ireland's Fingal Branch began monitoring and protecting the Little Tern colony at Portrane in 2018.
The project is a brilliant example of what can happen when local people decide that a small piece of coastline is worth protecting.
Volunteers monitor the colony, protect vulnerable nests and help give the birds the space they need to breed successfully.
And it isn't a token effort.
In 2024, the Portrane team spent more than 2,000 hours wardening the colony.
That same season saw 78 eggs laid and 53 confirmed chicks successfully fledge, with a further seven fledglings recorded but not confirmed.
Since the project began in 2018, more than 120 Little Tern chicks have fledged from Portrane.
Those aren't abstract conservation statistics.
They represent individual birds that made it from an egg on a beach to their first flight over the Irish Sea.
And that matters.
Read BirdWatch Ireland's full account of the Portrane Little Tern project.
Sometimes conservation looks surprisingly simple
One of the problems facing Little Terns is something as ordinary as the tide.
A nest built close to the high-water mark can be vulnerable to spring tides and easterly winds.
The Portrane team have developed a remarkably simple solution for nests at risk from high tides: raising vulnerable nests using flower pots.
It sounds almost too simple.
But conservation doesn't always mean satellites, laboratories or million-euro projects.
Sometimes it means being on a beach.
Watching.
Recording.
Protecting.
Moving quickly when something goes wrong.
And coming back tomorrow.
Then the day after that.
Then doing it all again next season.
That consistency is what makes local conservation work.
This is what “Actionable Impact” means to us
At For The Ocean, we believe conservation shouldn't be something people simply read about.
It should be something people can participate in.
That's why we're building Actionable Impact — a series following projects where everyday choices can help support wildlife and the people working to protect it.
Our model is deliberately simple:
Members + Sponsors + Merch = Action
Membership helps build the community.
Sponsors help make bigger projects possible.
And when you buy something from the For The Ocean store, you're not simply buying merchandise.
You're helping us create funding for conservation.
Our goal is to connect the things people already do — joining, buying, sharing, attending events and getting involved — with projects that make a difference on the ground.
Wear something that starts a conversation
We've created our Little Tern collection to help shine a spotlight on these extraordinary little seabirds and the people protecting them.
[Shop the Little Tern T-Shirt →]
Every purchase helps support the wider For The Ocean mission and gives us another opportunity to put conservation stories in front of people who might otherwise never encounter them.
Because sometimes the first step towards protecting something is simply noticing that it exists.
And if someone asks:
"What's that bird?"
You've got a story to tell.
Every Little Helps: You don't have to be an expert to get involved
One of the most encouraging things about the Portrane project is that conservation isn't reserved for professional ecologists.
BirdWatch Ireland's Fingal Branch relies heavily on volunteers.
The project team themselves put it brilliantly: if you can clap your hands and scare away crows, there's a job for you.
You don't need to know every bird in Ireland.
You don't need expensive equipment.
You don't need a degree in conservation.
You need to care.
There are many ways to get involved with wildlife conservation in Ireland, from volunteering and recording wildlife to supporting organisations working on the ground.
You can explore BirdWatch Ireland's local branches to find opportunities in your area.
And if you're interested specifically in the work happening around Portrane, the BirdWatch Ireland Fingal Branch is a great place to start.
Give the beach some space
If you're visiting a beach where birds are nesting, one of the most valuable things you can do is also one of the easiest:
give wildlife space.
Keep dogs under control and away from nesting areas.
Respect signs and temporary conservation fencing.
Don't enter protected nesting zones.
And if you see people approaching a nesting area who may not realise what they're walking towards, politely let them know.
A few metres can make a huge difference to a bird trying to raise a family.
The bigger picture
The story of the Little Tern isn't only about one beach.
These birds connect Ireland with a much bigger marine ecosystem.
They spend their summers breeding on our coastline and their winters along the coast of western Africa.
Their lives cross borders.
Their food comes from the sea.
Their breeding success depends on what happens on land.
And their future depends on people recognising that the health of our oceans, beaches and wildlife are all connected.
That is why protecting a tiny nesting colony at Portrane matters.
Local action can have a much bigger reach than the size of the project suggests.
Our first Actionable Impact
The Portrane Little Tern project is exactly the kind of conservation story we want to support through For The Ocean.
It is local.
It is practical.
It is volunteer-powered.
It is measurable.
And most importantly, it is working.
We want to help shine a bigger light on that work — and help more people understand that protecting wildlife isn't somebody else's job.
It belongs to all of us.
So whether you:
Become a For The Ocean member.
Buy a Little Tern T-shirt.
Share this story.
Support BirdWatch Ireland.
Volunteer.
Or simply give a nesting bird a little more space on your next visit to the coast.
You're taking action.
And action is where impact begins.
Protect the little things. They make a big difference.
The Little Tern weighs only around 50 grams.
But protecting one colony can bring together volunteers, communities, conservation organisations and thousands of hours of human effort.
That is the lesson we want to take from Portrane.
You don't have to change the whole world to make a difference.
Sometimes you just need to protect one beach.
One nest.
One chick.
One bird.
And then do it again next year.
That's Actionable Impact.
WANT TO HELP?
Shop the Little Tern T-Shirt → Men & Women
Read more For The Ocean conservation stories →
Sources & further reading
- BirdWatch Ireland — Little Tern
- BirdWatch Ireland — A successful year for east coast Little Terns in 2024
- BirdWatch Ireland — Protection at Portrane
- BirdWatch Ireland — Local Branches
- BirdWatch Ireland — Marine & Seabird Conservation
For The Ocean is an independent conservation-focused initiative. Project support, funding and impact is communicated transparently on our website.
